Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 20, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Editor John 6977044 focus Winnipeg free press a 7 january columnist of the prob Only after i read the column a very dubious apologia free 5 did i real ize How appropriate the title unfortunately the William did not intend it for the column tells much More about Neville than it does about his argument with professor Phil two Points Are revealing beyond the overreaction to Neville tells us his comment on the executive policy committee of City Council contains elements of hyperbole and i read the column and failed to detect even a hint of such now i will never know when Neville is telling the Sim ple truth or his exaggerated or ironic version of the he concluded the piece by saying the mayors problem is that she combines potentially great authority with great disdain and minimal understanding of govern mental and political if the great authority she would have achieved her most of the cites including debt and unacceptably Rich employee Are the result of former mayor Bill Nomes Compro Mise and mayor Susan Thompson was elected precisely be cause she fully understood the governmental and political Neville was part of that failed pro let Thompson do what she was elected to and let the voters pass judgment in the next whether Neville likes it or is the political his form of Back door politics is not Winnipeg what is Axworthy doing in response to the article by John Douglas new net traps free what is Lloyd Axworthy doing we Are no longer living in the 19th to which our outdated Laws and regulations concerning the and disabled though authorities no longer can throw the unemployed into the poor House and the disabled into the in sane now As the treat ment is totally the economic problems of this country were not created by Mere but by the unholy Alli Ance of big business and govern politicians appease the mid dle classes by shifting blame for Ris ing taxes and the growing deficit and other perceived abuses of the system onto the and the technological revolution a Micro Electron and computers of the past 25 years and increasing globalization of world economies Are the real causes of High the technological changes of the Indus trial revolution in the final benefited Many More people than it this latest coupled with a mean and maximum profit orientated corporate continues to eliminate Many More jobs than it corporate earnings have never been this adds to the real problem of this country Mal Distri Button of it seems the cur rent regime is Bent on imposing Laws to Force a uniform Low welfare rate across the country to discourage perceived abuses and Force peo ple to look for nonexistent jobs or the solution to growing so Cial unrest and class polarization lies in government changing the Laws to Force a More equitable distribution of Canadas wealth among All its Axworthy is beating up the poor by attempting to dismantle the exist ing social safety net instead of re placing it with a More effective and humane Alexander Parkinson Winnipeg alack of statesmanship it is mystifying Why the polls Are said to say prime minister Chretien enjoys immense popularity with the it is even More mystifying Why the Media even publicize these Arent these the same poll sters who said Charlottetown was a Given and that Kim Campbell would be close is there a line on the poll comparing leaders that says none of the for what it is i offer a Jaun diced View of by kicking an anglophone out of the Liberal caucus simply to negate he becomes a because in his red Book election Campaign Chretien and his candidates to renegotiate he became a Leader of of 3art pm to the editor the free press welcomes letters from letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed address and Telephone names will be published but not All letters maybe edited for style and Short letters Are less Likely to be please address letters to letters to the Winnipeg free 1355 Mountain Winnipeg letters can be sent to our fax number letters May be submitted through the internet at . Letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be but must include Home address and Telephone because he was warned of the dangers of the Canadian mouse sleeping with the american ele and now wants Chile to help him thwart the he now recant on his decision because he dumped the Liberal party when John Turner was elected he became a loser and a quit when he made Sharon who was campaigning for Senate re a was it a patronage Goody or a muzzling when his government proclaimed an 80 per cent tax on sports illustrated the Day after Rogers bought Mac leans was it coincidence Chretien has become avoid it int funny the Way he avoids doing anything about the lucrative my Perks and pensions or about double he avoids antagonizing the Cham Bers of he also avoids any thought of a Royal commission into the allegations of wrongdoing in the Stevie Cameron on the is he a Friend of Ordinary canadians by allowing his finance minister to continually threaten them with financial punishment for building a great country i think it is time polls were out what i have out lined is not what Canada expects As examples of statesmanship by our prime our local maps stand up and be counted to pro test the Lack of statesmanship Hugh Murray Springstein treat people equally racism should not be a problem in schools and other people should be treated because if a person is born in the Philippines or other he or she cannot change making a friends is not just but the person who is car and being laughed at so racism must Michelle Yumang general Wolfe school big event was a hit this letter is in response to the article big event Falls Flat free 3 which unfairly criticized the new years eve party held at the Walker we attended the party and Are bothered by the biased stance the article in addition to Quot ing a few unhappy the writer should have ventured into other such As the dance and should have spoken to some of the Many people who were actually celebrating the arrival of the new years eve event was advertised As a dance and for those of us who attended with a Pur pose to our Mission was a there was plenty of room on the stage for those who bothered to look for the negative overtones of the statement alleging that most of the music was recorded is not Only did two bands play very diverse music earlier in the but the deejays who mixed were particularly Harry these complaining patrons have no under standing of what a rave party where dancing is the main attraction and the music is always for Winnipeg mainstream then Tysom ething these rave Type parties Are relatively new and if ambitious promoters such As these become frustrated with this we May As Well bid Adieu to any future cutting Edge All we ask is that Winnipeg Cul Ture be Given a Chance to evolve alongside the rest of the Kristin Bingeman Ami Filkow Winnipeg education is business Competition for school Grants special to the free press can you imagine schools operating like a rec or a Mcdonalds if you succeed in your you if you you close the doors or go into does this sound rather absurd this is in fact what is happening in education in 1995 in the United in order to bring you up to Date to Here is a Brief historical school attendance in the had been compulsory since yet for 100 school regulations were rather lax in respect to what was being taught and what rights parents up to the late there was some discussion on educational Reform but very Little change took the fuel that was needed to spark the fire for change occurred in when the then labor prime James made a speech at Ruskin College in which he referred to the Strong Case for the so called Core curriculum of Basic the United kingdom was very aware at that time of its diminishing influence As a world in the Prosperity throughout the world started to global economic Competition increased and the along with other Western nations found it More difficult to particularly with the new Pacific rim in the there was a perceived need for More intellectual and technical at the same neoconservative movements started to campaigning against socialism and the welfare there was a perception that the present system had there was a loss of Faith in liberalism and the labor very quickly conservative parties were swept into first came Malcolm Fraser in then Margaret Thatcher in the Ronald Reagan in the United states and Brian Mulroney in new demands were placed on the educational there was an urgent need to improve the skills of the average worker and to Start to work the 1980s brought in a new Way of it was dominated by open the free the dismantling of government and new organizational change delivery a series of education acts and most important of the 1988 education Reform set out to change the whole delivery system of the major aim of the 1988 Era was to expose schools to the effects of the Market forces in a belief that they would have a beneficial effect upon the Quality of services the 1988 Era concentrated on a number of they included the relationship Between the the local education authorities school and the National the reporting of student Progress to to the and to the the role of local school governing the financial management of the entire curriculum and assessment As a result of these a number of educational reforms have been first of there is a new common National curriculum in place in and Northern that curriculum is made up of 10 at the Centre Are Core subjects of Hinther photo schools Are forced to compete for students and Grants under changes to education and the other foundation subjects include a modern foreign and physical the children also receive religious exercises appropriate to the Multi Faith Community in which they there is also a new testing program in student Progress in each subject is judged by a combination of National tests and teacher assessments of school the children will be tested at four key stages of development and due to some expressed dissatisfaction by educators and the testing authorities have announced that there will be fewer and Shorter tests and that the National curriculum will be the National testing program also involves the releasing of individual school test the reasoning behind this is that in an open and free parents can use the information in deciding where they would like to Send their children to parents now have the right to choose the of their this is intended to heighten Competition Between schools in attracting since monetary Grants to schools depend upon to add to the individual schools May also apply to opt out completely from their school division control and become Independent and this Means that schools that opt out would receive their monetary Grants directly from the taking and All relevant decision making Power with and totally bypassing their local school preferred treatment prime minister John major recently said that we have made no secret of the fact that Gran maintained schools get preferential treatment in allocating Grants to capital As of approximately five per cent of the stat controlled schools Are if the present government stays in More schools will be encouraged to take that another major Reform is in area of school based schools Are now required to have local school governing major admits preferential treatment to opted out schools these bodies Are made up of representatives from the and they function almost like a Board of overseeing the total school setting school and the role that local education authorities will play in the new scheme will be but dont think for a moment that the Central government is giving up its Power to the it will still have considerable both directly and As part of the they Are in the process of privatizing their inspection All schools would be inspected every four years by a private team of inspectors who would report to the governing the results of the inspection would be made As was noted in an inner London local one specific school did not fare very Well from the it was reported that exam results below the National poor attendance and unsatisfactory teaching were among criticisms of mount Carmel girls schools Are then Given a period of time to Correct any if improvements Are not the school could then be taken Over by the All of these reforms follow a commitment to a very definite and specific schools must function like any other business in the free education is a the philosophy lies in the Faith of the marketplace As the method of improving the delivery of the education implications such reforms along with the diminishing influence of school divisions in the have indeed created a revolutionary and most controversial Way of delivering educational there May be serious implications for education if some of these reforms spread across the Atlantic on the Manitoba it would be interesting to know what our minister of education truly has in mind with respect to his new directions in if he is hoping to steal some of the ideas from the then perhaps a few suggestion Are As an incentive for schools to opt they could be Given a free to or a stereo As schools Start to compete amongst they can offer different incentives to attract some schools could offer free big macs while others can offer free Only time will Tell whether big macs will win Over Hinther is principal of Inkster he recently spent some time studying the school system in the United doonesbury by Garry Trudeau in checking out ;